1. Field
The following description relates to an image generating apparatus and method. More particularly, this description relates to an image generating apparatus and method which can improve properties of sensitivity and dynamic range of an image.
2. Description of the Related Art
Use of devices that include a built-in camera, such as digital cameras and camera phones, is increasing
A camera generally includes a lens and an image sensor. The lens collects light reflected from an object to be photographed. The image sensor detects and converts the collected light into an electric image signal. The image sensor generally includes a camera tube and a solid-image sensor. A charged coupled device (CCD) and a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) are typical solid-image sensors.
To increase resolution of an image obtained by the camera, the unit area of each pixel in a sensing region is reduced while the total area of the sensing region is maintained. That is, as the unit area of each pixel is reduced, the number of pixels increases in proportion to the decreased unit area of each pixel, and consequently, a high-resolution image may be obtained. However, while such a method may produce a high-resolution image, it is difficult to achieve a highly sensitive image since the amount of light reaching each pixel decreases as much as the unit area decreases.
Furthermore, the pixels of current image sensors can have only one type of sensitivity at a time. Thus, a dynamic range sensor, having both high-sensitivity and low-sensitivity properties is required to photograph a scene containing objects of high luminance and low luminance.
Several wideband obtaining methods currently exist, such as a method of spatial sensitivity distribution of a sensor and a method of temporal sensitivity distribution of a sensor, in order to obtain a sensor with a plurality of sensitivities. However, the method of spatial sensitivity distribution causes deterioration in spatial resolution and integration and the method of temporal sensitivity distribution causes deterioration of image quality due to memory and prolonged time for photographing.